May negotiated a deal with the European Union and made the draft
agreement public earlier this week. But some pro-Brexit
Conservative MPs rallied against it because the UK will be in a
customs union with the EU for years after Brexit, unable to sign
meaningful trade deals with other countries, without the
unilateral right to leave.

Prominent Conservatives like Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nadine Dorries, and Zac
Goldsmith handed in letters of no-confidence in May. If
48 (15% of) Conservative MPs write such letters to the chair of
the 1922 Committee, it means the party has lost faith in May’s
leadership and a new leadership contest must be triggered.

But May told the Sky News programme “Ridge on
Sunday” that there are not currently enough letters to
threaten her premiership, and even warned rebels that a new
contest risks the entire Brexit process.

“As far as I know, no,” May told Sophy Ridge when asked if the 48
letter limit had been reached. “The answer to your question is
no. It has not.”

May added: “A change of leadership at this point is not to make
negotiations any easier and it’s not going to change the
parliamentary arithmetic. What it will do is bring in a degree of
uncertainty, for people and jobs, and it is a risk that we delay
negotiations, and that is a risk that Brexit gets delayed or
frustrated.”

Tweet Embed://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1064094963275841536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw‘The 48 letter limit has not been reached’ says Theresa May,
meaning there are not enough no-confidence letters to trigger a
Tory leadership contest
#Ridge